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Vocal ensemble Madrigalia to offer music about marriage at St. Bonaventure’s Quick Center

Jan 13, 2014 | The Rochester-based vocal ensemble Madrigalia will perform “For Better of Worse: Music About Marriage,” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A Quick Center for the Arts.

It is the fifth concert in the 2013-14 Friends of Good Music season.

In building a program centered on love and marriage, guest conductor Cary Ratcliff turned to multiple sources and cultures.

“I found myself programming music from Bollywood, Bulgaria, China, Persia, Sephardic Jews, Spain, Trinidad, as well as a few European madrigals and contemporary American composers,” said Ratcliff.

And once the ideas started coming, the complexity of the topic was evident.

“We have songs about arranged marriages, child brides, dowries, love itself, village wedding celebrations, a love triangle, infidelity, gay marriage, and widowhood. This is not a valentine or ‘wedding songs’ program, this is marriage: the big picture,” said Ratcliff.

Madrigalia has distinguished itself as one of the finest chamber choirs in Rochester and Western New York. The ensemble, now in its 36th concert season, is known for its quality performances of unique repertoire spanning more than six centuries and has established its reputation with multiple performances and collaborations.

Madrigalia has produced six recordings: “With Heart and Voice – Anthems Across America” (1993); “With Heart and Voice – Christmas Across America: (1996); “Christmas with Harp and Voice” (2001); “Madrigalia Live at Christmas” (2003); and “Music from the Emerald Isle” (2006). The group’s latest recording, “Shining Night,” was released in October 2011.

For tickets and information, call the Quick Center box office at (716) 375-2494.

For this and all other performances, the museum galleries will open one hour before the start of the performance and remain open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Museum admission is free and open to the public, year round. Visit The Quick Arts Center at www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.

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